Battle of the Pentagon Papers
Listen to Audio of Event (MP3)
Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008
3:30-5 p.m.
Ellis Auditorium
Join MU Deputy Chancellor Mike Middleton as he moderates Chancellor Brady Deaton's latest forum on global topics of interest to the community.
In 1966, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara commissioned a study on the history of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. The 7,000-page study, known as the Pentagon Papers, contained politically embarrassing information about administration efforts to manipulate military information and the media. In 1971, a copy of the document was leaked to The New York Times by a former Defense Department employee. After the Times published its first story, the Nixon administration blocked publication of additional stories with a court order. Not covered by the initial injunction, The Washington Post obtained copies of the study and published its own story two days after the Times' initial story. It, too, was stopped by a court order. Both papers appealed the court orders and their cases were combined for a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Chancellor’s forum will address issues, which are still relevant today, surrounding the publishing of the top-secret Pentagon Papers and the subsequent trial that tested the limits of the First Amendment, pitting the public’s right to know against the government’s desire for secrecy.
Following the forum, University Concert Series will present the LA Theatre Works’ production of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers at 7 p.m. Feb. 2. Appearing in cities across the nation, the docudrama gives an inside look at the decision of The Washington Post to publish the documents and the legal battle following.
The Chancellor's forums are free and open to the public. Learn more about the Pentagon Papers case.
The Panelists
Executive Director, National Freedom of Information Coalition
Associate Professor of Journalism
